Using an agricultural spray system, windrows are topically sprayed to maintain
odour control.
A compost management facility
at Plant’s Choice™ in Port
Colborne, Ontario, has reduced
odours and increased
profitability.
The Plant’s Choice facility processes
approximately 35,000 tonnes of
organic waste annually. Feedstocks
include: corn fibre, zebra mussels,
chicken sludge from a Dissolved Air
Flotation system (DAF), fish processing
waste, leaf and yard waste, paper
mill waste, fruit and vegetable processing
waste, grocery and restaurant
waste. This operation uses a combination
of open windrow and passive aerated
windrow composting technologies
in their process.
The company’s careful selection of
feedstock, coupled with its composting
expertise, allows it to process soil
amendment and growth medium products
that are consistently high in quality
and organic content.
However, the Port Colborne operation
has suffered some problems with
nuisance odours. Of particular concern
was the fifty tonnes of DAF sludge
(high nitrogen and fat content),
received weekly from a local chicken
processing facility. This feed stock was
extremely volatile and odorous, and all
previous attempts to control its odour
had met with only limited success.
Nuisance odour concerns due to
encroaching residential and commercial
developments around Plant’s
Choice facility prompted a successful
trial of a new liquid micronutrient supplement
application developed by
HydraLogic Systems Inc., located in
Barrie, Ontario.
The new process, sold under the
trade name BioStreme™ “Micro-nutrient
Supplement”, involves optimizing
the environmental conditions for biological
processes within the decomposing
organic matter. The supplement
was specifically developed to enhance
growth and reproduction of existing
facultative bacteria which synthesize
organic material without odorous byproducts.
Prior to the trial, Plant’s Choice
feedstocks were blended with wood
chips and other materials on-site to
create the nitrogen to carbon ratio necessary
to accommodate commercial
feedstocks for a complete composting
process. Compost materials were then
formed in 60 metre long windrows
which were aerated or turned every
couple of days over a 13 week period.
Moisture content, pH and internal
windrow temperatures were monitored
during the active composting stage to
ensure pathogen sterilization, and a
quality end product that satisfied all
government regulations.
Under the new HydraLogic program,
incoming DAF sludge is now
topically sprayed with BioStreme upon
arrival to site. A windrow is then built
using a mixture of sludge and wood
chips. A diluted solution is topically
applied to the windrows to achieve a
10 ml of concentrated product per
square metre, and turned as in the original
composting process.
Spraying and turning is repeated a
total of three times to blend the
windrow uniformly with Bio-Streme.
The windrow is then left undisturbed
for three to four weeks.
